


Rubies

by gritsinmisery



Category: Life on Mars (UK)
Genre: Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-14
Updated: 2008-08-14
Packaged: 2017-10-06 19:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gritsinmisery/pseuds/gritsinmisery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just another lunch in the canteen...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rubies

Rubies

Annie looked up from the notebook she was scribbling in on the canteen table. "Can you give me a hand with this, please, Phyllis?"

"What do you have there?" asked the older woman, craning her neck to try to read the page as she sat down across the table. All she could make out were a lot of dark smears where Annie had scratched things out.

"Mills and Boon have a contest going on. You're to write an scene in their style describing a dinner party, and the winner gets two nights' holiday in London at a posh hotel, and the scene printed in the subscribers' newsletter."

Picking up her fork, Phyllis stabbed at the peas on her plate. "So? You've been to uni, Annie. You should be able to pop out a page of that stuff in your sleep. What's the problem?"

"I can't seem to get the flow of it right. I think I'm lacking details; you know how it always seems like you're right there next to the characters in the book?" Annie sighed.

"Let 's hear what you have so far, then," prompted Phyllis, glaring at her impaled vegetables.

Scanning down the few bits that weren't marked out, Annie chose a spot. "Well, all right, here's something that needs work: _Smiling, their hostess lifted her glass of wine to her lips, enjoying the conversation going on around her._"

The other woman shook her head. "Yeah, that's not quite –"

A low male voice spoke softly from just behind Annie's ear, "_Smiling slyly as if enjoying a joke only she was privy to, their hostess delicately lifted her glass. The wine glinted like expensive rubies in the warm, flickering candlelight, staining her lips to match as she sipped, and drawing attention to the enormous stones on the necklace decorating her deep decolletage._ ...And then you go on to say something about the pleasant murmur of conversation and the way the ladies' laughing tinkles like the crystals on the candelabra in the soft breeze from the open French doors."

Annie turned around in her chair, almost bumping noses with Sam, who was turned nearly backwards in his seat at the table behind her. Behind him, she could see the Guv glaring across the table at the two of them. She blinked in surprise. "Wow, Sam, that's, um…. Brilliant. Thanks. Do you…?"

"No! No. My Auntie Heather used to read out loud to my mum after tea, while Mum did the mending. I just… heard it a lot, growing up." Sam was staring down at the floor, face slightly flushed. He "umm, yeah"-ed a bit, then turned back around to his lunch as Annie and Phyllis grinned knowingly at each other. Phyllis returned to assaulting her peas, and Annie started writing quickly before she forgot the phrases Sam gave her.

Gene leaned low across the table, nearly hissing. "Christ, Tyler! Half the station already thinks yer a Nancy-boy, no need to let the rest agree with 'em. What'n 'ell brought on that exhibition?"

"Sorry, Guv, I was just remembering the Bolognese I made last Saturday night, and it kind of… came to me." Sam fiddled with a limp chip on his plate, head down, refusing to meet Gene's glare.

Reminded of the excellent Italian served up by his D.I., Gene relented a little. Leaning back in his seat, he crossed his arms and muttered gruffly, "There was red wine, and candles, but as I recall neither of us were wearing 'Er Majesty's rubies."

"Remember what I did with the last of the bottle?" Sam peeked up through his eyelashes at his boss and smiled slyly.

Gene pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows as he recalled the event. "Ahhh. Say, Sammy-boy, how d'ya think you'd look in topazes? I've got a bottle of single malt that might inspire a sequel…"

**Author's Note:**

> That dinner went like this: [The Galloping... Scientist?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/56929)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Galloping... Scientist?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/56929) by [gritsinmisery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gritsinmisery/pseuds/gritsinmisery)




End file.
